Summary: More principles about making the best out of life.

Matthew 11:28 Jesus said, "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest."

INTRO.- Making the best out of life. Most people want the best they can get out of life. How do we get it?

ILL.- Some people are shooting for the stars! In TOKYO, Japan, people are hoping to win the lottery jackpot by consulting a zodiac chart before forking out money for a ticket. A survey of 3,515 lottery winners revealed that those born under the star sign of Capricorn were the most likely to win, followed by Aquarius and Pisces. Least likely to hit the jackpot were people born under the sign of Gemini, according to the survey.

Fortune-telling is a thriving industry in Japan, with everything from blood group to sushi preferences used to make predictions.

Brothers and sisters, what do you think of this or make of this? I think it’s a big joke, but not to some people. Consulting your horoscope or some fortune-teller is not the way to win the lottery nor to make the best out of life! But consulting the Giver of life is certainly the way to a better life!

ILL.- Are most people happy with their life? Dennis Wholey, author of Are You Happy? reports that according to expert opinion, perhaps only 20 percent of Americans are happy. Those experts would probably agree with the definition of happiness offered by psychiatrist Thomas Szasz, who said, "Happiness is an imaginary condition, formerly attributed by the living to the dead, now usually attributed by adults to children and by children to adults."

ILL.- Six weeks before he died, a reporter asked Elvis Presley, "Elvis, when you first started playing music, you said you wanted to be rich, famous and happy. Are you happy?" "I’m lonely as hell" he replied.

Most of us have discovered that happiness is not found in things nor in accomplishments. Things don’t thrill and accomplishments don’t achieve.

ILL.- In 1968 I ordered a new Pontiac Firebird with a 400 cubic inch, 330 horsepower, 4-speed transmission, 160 mph on the speedometer. It was nice. It was powerful. It was fast, but the thrill didn’t last. Things don’t thrill. Or at least, eventually the thrill fades away.

ILL.- In June of 1990, I probably ran my best marathon (26.2 miles) considering the weather conditions. The weather in Duluth, MN, was a high of 75 degrees that day (not good marathoning weather. 40 is more like it). Out of approximately 5,500 runners I finished about 140th overall. Only 237 runners finished under 3 hours. My time was two hours and 54 minutes or an average of 6 minutes and 40 seconds a mile. Not bad for a 45 year-old male. But certain worldly accomplishments don’t achieve! They don’t achieve any lasting results...any lasting spiritual results. I never talked to anybody that day about Christ. I never witnessed to anybody. I never baptized anybody.

I ran for hours alongside Lake Superior and not one runner came up to me and said (as the eunuch did to Philip in Acts 8), "Why can’t I be baptized?"

Generally, worldly accomplishments don’t achieve spiritual results. Happiness is not found in things nor accomplishments. And on the other side of the coin we find that many people are not very happy with their lives for one negative reason or another: family troubles, kid problems, work life, financial struggles, poor health, fear, etc.